NBA 2018-19: Who won the Kawhi-DeRozan Trade?

This NBA offseason has been one of the craziest owing to the massive number and magnitude of trades that have gone down. One of the biggest was Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors.

The Raptors won 59 games in 2018, but were swept in the playoffs in the second round. Kawhi Leonard has had problems with the Spurs organization in the past, and has reportedly shown enthusiasm to play with the Lakers, when he becomes a free agent.

As far as who won this trade, it was clearly the Raptors. Even though it is not clear whether Kawhi will return to his prime, the Raptors got a Top-5 player in the league, who is an MVP caliber candidate.

Kawhi is a 2-time Defensive Player of the Year, and has even won a Finals MVP. The Raptors entered this offseason with no cap space, and have still managed to sign a star, making this an amazing move for them. Kawhi helps the Raptors improve their defense too, and puts Toronto on the map again.

For the Spurs, they didn’t do so bad either. Kawhi wasn’t doing so well with the Spurs management, and their relationship was getting stale. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to let him go.

While DeRozan might not even be a Top-10 player, he’s a solid franchise piece and a great mid-range player. He has his flaws, but he’s still an amazing player to work with. The West, though, remains as difficult as ever, but with Derozan, the Spurs have a real shot at doing well in the playoffs.

In my opinion, the Raptors won the trade, although there weren’t any ‘losers’. Both teams got what they needed to keep them going for the next season, both financially, and in terms of skill.